Historical reenactment Totally Explained

Everything about Historical Reenactment totally explained

Historical reenactment is a type of roleplay in which participants attempt to recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. It may be a narrowly-defined period, such as a specific war or other event, or it may be more broadly defined.
Activities related to "reenactment" are not new. Tournaments in the Middle Ages had Roman or other earlier themes (while the Romans themselves staged recreations of famous battles within their amphitheaters as a form of public spectacle), and the Victorians recreated medieval furnishings such as tapestries. However, historical reenactment in pursuit of practical historical interest, beyond merely re-inventing history as an entertainment to suit contemporary convenience or sensibilities, seems to be an invention of the 20th century.
The term living history describes attempts to bring history to life for the general public. Historical reenactment includes a continuum from well researched attempts to recreate a known historical event for educational purposes, through representations with theatrical elements, to competitive events for purposes of entertainment, which might be considered a form of live-action role-playing within a historical context. The line between Historical reenactments and presentations at living history museums can be blurred as, while the latter routinely utilize museum professionals and trained interpreters to help convey the story of history to the public, some museums and historic sites employ reenactment groups with high standards of authenticity for the same role at special events.

Reenactment groups

Most groups and individuals who are dedicated to reenactment are amateurs who pursue reenactment as a hobby. Participants within this hobby are extremely diverse. The ages of participants range from young children whose parents bring them along to events, to the elderly. Among adult participants, people from all different walks of life can be found - college students, firemen, lawyers, members of the armed forces, doctors, and even professional historians.(External Link

)

Period

The period of an event is the range of dates . See authenticity (reenactment) for a discussion of how the period affects the types of costume, weapons, and armour used.
Popular periods to reenact include:

Napoleonic reenactment
Ancient reenactment
Dark Ages reenactment
Early Medieval reenactment
High Medieval reenactment
Jousting tournaments from the Middle Ages
Burgundian Wars of Charles the Bold have been made popular as a reenactment period by groups like the Company of St. George etc.
Renaissance reenactment
The Frontiersman Camping Fellowship
The English Civil War
The The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its great wars.
The Fur Trade is reenacted by many in North America at events known as "Rendezvous."
The French and Indian War is becoming popular in the United States and Canada, with many American Revolutionary War(External Link) reenactors also having a secondary portrayal and unit in this period.
Military units and battles of the American Revolutionary War (External Link) are popular across North America
The Reign of the Knights of St. John
Napoleonic reenactment battles
The English Regency
War of 1812
The Franco-Prussian War
American Civil War reenactment
Wild West themes and Cowboy action shooting
The Crimean War
Late Victorian
World War I
World War II reenactment
Korean War reenacting,
Vietnam War,
Persian Gulf War, and
Modern reenactment

Clothing and equipment

Experimental archaeology Experimental archaeology is an important part of many authentic living history events, where crafts and techniques are evaluated to see whether they make sense in the appropriate historical setting. For example, various combinations of armour can be tried to see if an item for which no historical evidence exists is actually easy to make with the tools available and practical to use in the battles of the time.

Events

Permanent events There are a number of locations which have set up a permanent authentic displays:

Butser Ancient Farm

Colonial Spanish Quarter Living History Museum- in Saint Augustine, Florida.

Colonial Williamsburg

Cosmeston Medieval Village

Greenfield Village

Plimoth Plantation

The Spanish Military Hospital Museum- in Saint Augustine, Florida

Little Bighorn National Monument-Reenactment is known as Custer's Last Stand Reenactment in Crow Agency Montana.

Kentwell Hall in Long Melford, Suffolk, England. Tudor reenactment events throughout the year (also a WWII weekend).

Creative history and fantasy events

Creative history and fantasy events are distinct from historical reenactments, as these types of events typically allow clothing and equipment that isn't historically correct (for example, cotton clothing in a medieval setting), or may have no basis in history whatsoever.
While all such groups follow a looser interpretation of history (sometimes mixing equipment from closely related periods, for instance), some go a step further and mix historical elements with elements of fantasy, or incorporate modern technology or culture into a historical setting. (Often this is done in the interests of increasing safety or reducing costs, such as making melee weapons out of rubber or plastic rather than iron or steel).
Notable examples of this variation on the theme are the Society for Creative Anachronism, and Renaissance Faires, which blend approximately medieval customs, dress, and activities within historically inspired fantasy kingdoms. However, many Renaissance Faires have begun to rein in the fantasy elements and have a more historical feel.

Commercial reenactment

Many castles, museums, and other historical tourist attractions employ actors or professional reenactors as part of the experience. These usually address the recreation of a specific town, village, or activity within a certain time frame. Commercial reenactment shows are usually choreographed and follow a script.

Publications

Over the years, there have been a number of publications devoted to covering the subjects of historical reenactment and its close cousin, living history. These have included the Camp Chase Gazette and, at various times, two different magazines named Living History (the most recent of which last appeared in 1997 and was published by Great Oak Inc. and edited by history author Michael J. Varhola).
   Another popular book is The Medieval Soldier by Gerry Embleton and John Howe, 1995. It has been translated to French and German. It was later followed by Medieval Military Costume in Colour Photographs.
   For the Napoleonic Period there are 2 books of interest that cover life in the military at that time and Living History; "The Napoleonic Soldier" by Stephen E. Maughan, 1999 and "Marching with Sharpe" by B.J. Bluth, 2001. The various Napoleonic reenactment groups, some of whom are listed in the External Links below, now cover the history of their associated regiment as well as try to describe and illustrate how they approach recreating the period. The aim to be as authentic as is possible from the various source materials has led many serious reenactment societies to set up their own research groups to verify their understanding of the uniforms, drill and all aspects of the life that they strive to portray. In this way reenactment plays a vital role in bringing history to life, keeping history alive and in expanding the knowledge and understanding of the period.
   Skirmish Magazine, edited by long time Living Historian Rachel C Evans, covers all periods of world history from the last 4000 years. Aimed at reenactors and living historians, it provides articles on topics including living history, reenactment, historical essays and archeology from leading living historians and historians such as Dan Snow, Tony Pollard and Jonathan Davies. The Advisory Board includes high profile reenactors including Jonathan Egglestone and Trevor Poole.

Media support

Motion picture and television producers often turn to reenactment groups for support; films like Gettysburg and Glory benefited greatly from the input of reenactors, who arrived on set fully equipped and steeped in knowledge of military procedures, camp life, and tactics.
In a documentary about the making of the film Gettysburg, actor Sam Elliott, who portrayed Union General John Buford in the film, said of reenactors:

Criticism

Reenactors are sometimes looked on with suspicion, particularly by military veterans, but also by elements of the general public. It is often difficult for veterans or the public to understand why reenactors do what they do, or there may be questions as to the motivation, or the knowledge of the reenactors.
Common criticisms revolve around motivation, as well as concerns about the level of immersion found in some arenas, notably those involving 20th Century conflicts where combatants had stricter regulations regarding personal grooming. The average age of reenactors is also generally far higher than the average age of soldiers in most conflicts. Few reenactment units discriminate, however, based on age and physical condition. However, there has been criticism about the exclusion of women from some American Civil War combat reenactment units. While there were a small handful of women who may have fought in the conflict, almost all of them did so disguised as men. Attitudes on this topic seem to vary widely.
A final concern mentioned by Thompson's book is the "fantasy farb", or tendency of reenactors to gravitate towards "elite" units such as commandos, paratroopers, or Waffen-SS units resulting in an under-representation in the reenactment community of what were the most common types of military troops in the period being reenacted. This is largely drawn from an North American perspective, although there are parallel issues on the European scene, such as the tendency in Britain for Napoleonic War reenactors to perform as members of the 95th Rifles (perhaps due to the popularity of Sharpe). In the UK there are multi-period events such as 'History in Action'

where groups get to look at each other's appearance and performances as well as perform for the general public.
There is certainly much criticism from within reenactment organisations as to meritocracy, leadership and so-on. On the whole reenactors could be guilty of projecting their own, present-minded attitudes onto their historical alter egos.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Historical Reenactment'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://historical_reenactment.totallyexplained.com">Historical reenactment Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.